BBC Yellowstone imagery... How'd they do it?

snowgage

Posted 12 December 2009 - 10:52 AM

snowgage

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Good Morning.. I am tasked with creating some effects similar to what is seen at the 3:15 mark of this video.

I am curious if anyone knows how something like this was done. The first, oblique pan, coming from the southeast of NA seems a little more challenging. The second pan seems to be directly overhead and I imagine I could accomplish something comparable by starting with the appropriate satellite image, coupled with hillshade.

Does anyone have suggestions for a workflow to create something like this? Suggested programs? I have the CS4 suite and wonder what other applications or data products I'd need.

Hans van der Maarel

Posted 12 December 2009 - 01:27 PM

Hans van der Maarel

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You'd need 3D software for the first pan. Something like Visual Nature Studio, Terragen, Natural Scene Designer or Vue. Set up a world (global DEM, satellite image overlay, clouds and atmospheric effects) and animate a camera through it. The 2nd pan is indeed simpler to set up.

I can only speak from experience when it comes to Visual Nature Studio. That has a pretty steep learning curve, but it can be done in a relatively short amount of time.

snowgage

Posted 13 December 2009 - 07:52 PM

snowgage

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I am working with some of the high-res blue marble data now. It looks really great but there is some distortion at the higher latitudes. I've brought my hillshade into photoshop and am working with some free transformation to try and get the blue-marble overlain and lined up. Its pretty problematic via this approach. Anyone have a suggested work flow for draping the blue marble imagery over a NA hillshade?

My end goal is to create a short clip that will be an overhead flight from the western U.S. to Alaska.